6/18/18

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Roses

Series: A Resort to Murder Mystery #2

Publication Date: March 1, 2018

Julienne is snow bound in the middle of the Rocky Mountains with a killer striking at will.

Julienne LaMere gets to attend a Resort Management conference at a prestigious ski resort in the Colorado Mountains. What should be an enjoyable getaway attending workshops by day and shopping and enjoying the resort by night comes to a screeching halt when a loud-mouthed guest is murdered plus the roads and town shut down for an epic blizzard. In addition to attending the conference, dodging a smitten teen boy, and seeking clues among the gossiping – and increasingly tense – guests, her best friend’s heart has warmed to an unlikely man and may get broken. As if her mind isn’t already fully occupied, Julienne and her new boyfriend Mason are skiing down troubled slopes in their relationship. Will Julienne put the scant clues together and unveil the culprit before a murderer gets away?

I loved the premise of this book! Loved the two best friends, Julieanne, and Porsche, the mystery is good! There are some proof reading errors, not the Authors fault. However, the biggest problem I have is, no romance! The Detective develops something with Porsche, no kisses, no nothing!? Julieanne, intelligent, beauty, has no boyfriend? Hopefully, in the next book the Romance may be heating up, and in that case, I will be looking forward to this new series! I recommend! Thank you! Enjoy

Like my blog for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card.

6/18/18

Iced by Avery Daniels

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Roses

Series: A Resort to Murder Mystery

Publication Date: May 31, 2017

Julienne has her ideal job as an event planner at a prestigious resort. During a luncheon event she coordinated, a renowned celebrity pastor is killed next to the buffet. All eyes turn to her as the suspect. If she wants to stay out of jail or even keep her job, Julienne needs all the help she can get to solve the crime.

She has her work cut out for her with a vengeful high school rival now reporter, the public demanding she be fired, plus family who knows what’s best for her, and a boyfriend who doesn’t understand her. She turns to friends and a new ally to uncover who wanted to put the pastor on ice.

Julienne goes undercover and investigates a local swingers group as she follows the trail of clues before they go cold. Can she gather enough suspects and motives to convince the police to widen their investigation? Can she do it before the killer sets his murderous sights on her? Will her personal life ever be as simple as unveiling a murderer?

Here’s what I thought of Iced by Avery Daniels:

This is a great book from a new Author! I love Julieanne, the Heroine, her friends, her family, you want to be with these people. She has just broken up with her long time part of the family boyfriend! Within several days he is kissing someone else in public! However, she has a new neighbor, a cross between Adian Quinn, and some other tall ,dark , hunk. He is Mason, a mixture of James Bond, and Jason Bourne, his father is a General, he was in Special Forces, he plays in high stake poker games, he can play the guitar, and he dates beautiful women from Hollywood! His other job is that of bodyguard! Think Keven Costner in the Bodyguard! Only this time he is there when she arrives home! The mystery is yewww! A Pastor of a Mega Church is murdered right after he grabs Julianne’s backside, he threatens to have her fired, from her dream job. Now, she is the number one suspect in the murder of the very wicked Pastor! I highly recommend! Thank you! Enjoy!

Like my blog for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card.

June 14, 2018

James Street by Sarah Vail

I have always wanted to write. Even as a little girl, I loved summer when school was out and I could spend time immersed in Nancy Drew Mysteries. As I grew, I wanted to write my own mysteries and took every creative writing class I could find. Life intervened, I married and had to work. After my marriage failed, I took a job in Oregon and pursued my dream of writing after work hours. I joined a writer’s critique group. With the support of other writers, I honed my craft. I went back to school, taking classes in Criminology and Forensic Science. I took classes in the safe handling of small arms and have incorporated that knowledge together with life experiences into my novels.

Several life experiences inspired writing James Street. When I was a young woman, I was stalked. It was a very frightening ordeal. I can still remember the night that he was finally arrested. I was eight months pregnant and my husband was working. Home alone, I was doing some domestic chores. I don’t remember why I looked up, but when I did, I found my stalker standing on my back deck looking through the sliding glass door at me. The door was locked, but it wouldn’t have taken much to break the glass. I rushed to my bedroom, locked the door and grabbed my husbands pistol from a night stand drawer. Once I had it in hand, I called the police. I positioned myself against a windowless wall phone in one hand and the pistol in the other and waited for the sheriff to arrive. I was terrified of guns. But I would’ve used it that night to protect myself and my baby had I needed to. My stalker would periodically send things for me to my parent’s home, up to the time he passed away in a mental hospital.

When writing James Street, I enhanced my experience by exploring what-ifs, as I believe all fiction writrs do.

Currently, I’m living an idyllic life. Another one of my life long dreams. I live on a Cattle Ranch in Oregon with my partner, two dogs and my precious Arabian horses.

Thank you for joining me today!

What is the most unethical practice in the Publishing Industry?

This is a tough question to answer for me. I don’t have enough experience to know what the industry might be doing unethically.

I would guess since self-publishing has taken over the biggest share of the market, and companies have emerged to help authors with the process, they might be overcharging for services. They might be talking would be authors into services that they don’t understand or need or worse, are purchased, but never completed by the publishing company.

Marketing and publicity make all the difference in the success of a book. If you have a great book, it can still languish, if no one knows about it.

What have you changed if anything, about how you write after your first book was published?

I found that I write more often. When writing James Street, I couldn’t wait to get home after my day job to write. Since I’m retired now, I can write more and I do. I try to set aside several hours a day. I love it.

What is your kryptonite in writing?

My kryptonite in writing is noise and distractions. I need quiet and space to write. When writing sometimes I test out my dialogue by speaking it out loud. Anyone accidentally happening in on one of those sessions could easily assume I’m crazy! You do know what they say about talking to oneself. I am also a bit of a perfectionist. First, I hot write a scene and then go back and polish, and polish and polish! I want the point of view character to pull the reader into his/her thoughts and emotions as he/she moves the plot forward. I want to make sure I’m keeping the reader in my fiction world by painting a picture with words. I want to make sure I am stimulating the imagination with sights, sounds, smells, and touch. Once that’s done, and I’m happy with it, I go back and tighten.

Have you ever had readers block?

No. I’ve always been able to read. I have had readers disappointment, though. With all the books available because of e-books, I’ve found many I couldn’t finish.

Does writing exhaust you, or boost your energy?

Writing boosts my energy. When I’m in a scene and the story is moving along it gives me the strength to keep going. I find a great deal of happiness when I know a scene or chapter is working.

Do you see these great characters as becoming a series?

I do, and am well into my next book. I enjoyed creating my investigative team and think they are the right mix for solving lots of crimes.

My favorite is McAndrews, do you have a favorite?

Tim McAndrews is my favorite character. I worried he might be too dreamy and too much of a manly, man. Then I thought… it’s my story! But many of my readers agree. The feedback is he’s the main character.

One night when I had girlfriends over for dinner, we had a ball looking through pictures of actors and models and choosing who might play him should it become a movie. What fun! Though in the beginning, Tim was going to share the lead with Daniela, as the story moved on, he seemed to take over the lead.

Again, thank you for joining me!

Like my blog for a chance to win one of two $10 Amazon gift cards

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Pearls

Publication Date: August 16, 2017

After four years of hard work, deputy district attorney Tim McAndrews claims the title of his offices top prosecutor. Hes young, handsome, and smart, and his life is ticking along at a satisfying pace until he sees a woman dancing down the last few steps of the James Street parking garage. Tim realizes his perfect life is actually missing something: love.

He’s surprised by his sudden and overwhelming attraction to the beautiful Daniela St. Clairwealthy heiress and philanthropist. Love on the brain, he returns to his office to find his best friends from the old neighborhood, Kathy and Scott. They have grim news: two young women have died as a result of a toxic mix of antidepressants and alcohol.

Kathy, with the Medical Examiners Office, and Scott, a Seattle detective, suspect foul play, and they need Tim’s help to prove it. With thoughts of Daniela still whirling around his head, Tim works with his old friends, but the case leads them all down a dark path. They follow the evidence where it leads, methodically putting together a jigsaw puzzle of pure evil, as Tim pursues new love and soon realizes hes not the only one interested in Daniela.

This is going to be my top eight of 25 Books for 2018! In fact, I am going to read it again, I loved it! I do not know the Author, I found it on Netgalley, and am I thrilled! I have had a book to read in my hands since I was three, several weeks ago, I went through readers block! I have never felt like that in my entire life! I have at least 200 books TBR in my pile, and nothing struck me, then I read this blurb on Netgalley, and I was not disappointed! It is about three friends, Tim McAndrews, the Apollo of the group, or so women call him! His two best fiends since childhood, Kathy Hope, extremely intelligent, even if she would never win a Miss America Prize, and Scott Renton, tall, dark, and handsome, high school football quarterback! They literally had their own tree house, Tim, and Scott went off to college together, majored in Crime, now Tim, is an up, and coming District Attorney, Scott is the up and coming Detective in Homicide. Kathy, is the forensic pathologist, she is great at her job! They are great friends, even all these years later.

Kathy calls them in, she has a female on her table that is not right, she knows something is wrong, the boys as she calls them, are not so sure, until a second woman, with the same symptoms, same hair color, and build, send alarms going off by all three of them. A possible serial killer using poison!

Tim has finally during this time, found the woman of his dreams, yet, she may call him Apollo, she is not ready for another relationship. Her cheating ex-husband has left plenty of internal scars, she needs to discover what Tim wants, her money, or her name. The sad situation for beautiful Daniela St. Clair, he has no clue who she is! He saw her walking down the steps one day, and she took his breath! He decides, This Is Her, This is The Woman I want To Marry! She is too traumatized to let him in.

All during this time, the killer is becoming more agitated, willing to risk more, just for one more kill!

May 30, 2018

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Pearls

Publication Date: May 21, 2018

DETECTIVE HILLARY GREENE IS BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER! And this time she’s going to solve the cold cases which no one else could crack.

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A REVISED EDITION OF A BOOK FIRST PUBLISHED AS “A NARROW RETURN.”

Hillary Greene returns to Thames Valley Police HQ, acting as a consultant for the Crime Review Team, looking into murders which the police have never been able to solve.

She wasn’t sure she wanted to go back. But solving crimes is irresistible for Hillary Greene. And it doesn’t hurt that her new boss is devastatingly handsome.

Twenty years ago, mother-of-three Anna McRae was found beaten to death in her kitchen with a rolling pin. She’d been having an affair with her brother-in-law, so the prime suspect was Anna’s sister Debbie. But the evidence never added up.

However as Hillary digs deeper, more secrets and betrayals emerge. Who wanted Anna dead and can Hillary finally bring her justice?

Meanwhile, Hillary is distracted by an unknown admirer, who quickly seems to be going from suitor to stalker.

Can Hillary solve a fiendishly complex case from the past while fending off unwanted attention?

This is the best book that I have read in ages! What a story! Hiliary comes back to work after taking a year off, well she actually retired, or so she thought. Not ever having read this Author or her books, I am now a die hard fan, why didn’t someone tell me about these books?! Thank you Netgalley, for allowing me to peruse new Authors. I honestly have been reading since I was three, always had a book in my hand. Lately however, I am just weary of the same trope over, and over! Then I read this, did not put it down until I was finished! This is a book for people who weary of profanity, (because the Author can’t write), it is cold cases reopened, there is a handsome DI, which she was before she retired, she has me wanting to jump over the desk after him too, all in her imagination! Too funny. I do hope they get together in the next book, that stalker, how scary is that, it gives me the creeps! Every woman who has had one, can empathize with her, and understand the anger, and fear! I loved everything in this book, everything! I highly recommend! Thank you! Enjoy!

May 29, 2018

The Duke of Lies by Darcy Burke

My Rating:

Series: The Untouchables Book 9

Publication Date: May 29, 2018

Verity Beaumont has suffered domineering men most of her life, first with her father and then with her husband. Free from both men, she has finally found peace. Even meeting a kind and hard-working gentleman who just might be the perfect father her young son so desperately needs. But as she dares look to the future, her carefully ordered world is shattered when her dead husband returns.

After six years away, Rufus Beaumont, Duke of Blackburn, returns to claim his place and protect his family. Only, the life he finds is not the life he left, and he must convince his wife that their marriage is worth fighting for, that he’s not the man he was. When the truth about what happened to him leaks out, he must prove that not everything about him, especially his love for her, is a lie.

My Review:

Verity Beaumont was married off to the highest bidder her domineering father could find. Rufus Beaumont, Duke of Blackburn, treated Verity worse than people treat their dogs! Her father never said a word in her defense, he, and The Duke hired a steward who kept the books from her, even after Rufus went missing!

After six and one half years, she and her little boy Beau, born when his father disappeared, were living a happy life, in fact she finally found a Steward she could trust, and he loved her little boy, and she had grown fond of him. Just when things were looking up, a man rode up the long driveway, her whole world shattered, The Duke had returned!

This man had changed, changed so greatly, she could not believe it was the same man. Now, for him to convince Verity that he would do anything to protect her, and his son, whom he loved more than he thought possible! He wanted Verity to forget the past, and look forward to their bright future, if only she could trust him!

Welcome to my WordPress site! I am happy to have you here. Please do not leave profanity, sexual content, political strife, or anything unkind. If you break any of these policies, I will delete your response. Thank you, this is for discussion on books, and I appreciate your understanding.

May 6, 2018

Lady Rogue by Theresa Romain

Joining me today is Theresa Romain.

Welcome Theresa! Let’s get started.

Why did you choose to write about a commoner man marrying an aristocratic lady? Do you think that it truly would have worked?

This wasn’t a pairing I’d written before (I think…now I need to go check my backlist!), so that made it interesting to me. Power and influence in English society 200 years ago worked very differently than they do in our modern US society. Regency characters aren’t simply modern folks in long dresses—though that being said, my characters are always open to change. Otherwise, how can they grow and earn that HEA?

I do think that a commoner man/aristocratic woman marriage could have worked. We’ve got examples, both modern and historical! Though it was definitely less usual than for an aristocratic man to marry a commoner woman, because historically in England, children inherited their father’s rank—so an aristocratic woman wouldn’t have passed on her own title/rank to her kids.

Lady Isabel of LADY ROGUE doesn’t feel she has anything to lose, though. She has plenty of money; she enjoys society but doesn’t need to be at its heart; she was married before out of duty rather than love. She’s about as independent as a woman of her time could have been, and so her romance is of an independent sort too.

Does writing energize or exhaust you?

Some of both, really. I have chronic fatigue issues, and writing takes a lot out of me physically. It doesn’t make sense, but it’s the case! Yet when a project is going really well and I make the day’s word count goal with time to spare, it can be very energizing. It makes me feel like I’ve done something worthwhile with my day.

Do you try to be original, or give readers what they want?

Why not both? 🙂 I want each of my stories to contain characters and events that feel fresh so that I’ll enjoy writing it. But since I’m the same me writing each book, they definitely have points in common: banter, literary references, beloved pets…things like that.

Do you want each of your books to stand alone, or are you working towards a body of work?

Again, why not both? Since any one of my books could be the first one a reader finds, each story must stand on its own and have a self-contained love story. For those who like to follow a series in order, I think it can be fun to include continuing plot threads or characters, but the reader of just one book won’t be left confused. I’ve just finished my 18th romance, counting novels and novellas, and the longest series of connected books I’ve written is four stories.

What is your favorite underappreciated book?

Most of the books I love are well known among other romance readers, but to people who don’t read romance, they might not be familiar. I’ve used the books of Courtney Milan and Susanna Kearsley to convince friends who read fiction that they really ought to be reading romance as well! But those authors’ books are very well-loved, so I wouldn’t call them underappreciated. Now you’ve got me thinking about this, though—thank you! I share book recommendations on BookBub when I particularly enjoy something I’ve read, so watch that space and maybe we’ll all find an underappreciated gem.

What does literary success look like to you?

That’s a great question, and I bet every author’s answer is a little different. My own definition of success would be enough money to live on without pinching every penny, the respect of my peers, and awesome readers who enjoy my books. Thank you so much for being one of the latter!

Thank you for being with me today, I hope your book is a huge success! Will this be a series? Sorry, could not help myself!

Yes, LADY ROGUE is part of a series. It’s loosely connected to the first two Royal Rewards books, FORTUNE FAVORS THE WICKED and PASSION FAVORS THE BOLD. A final book, LADY NOTORIOUS, will be out on February 26, 2019. More info about each of these, and all my other books, can be found on theresaromain.com.

Thank you so much for hosting me!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Pearls

Series: Royal Rewards Book 3

Publication Date: April 24, 2018

HER SECRET SCANDAL As far as London’s high society knows, Lady Isabel Morrow is above reproach. But the truth is rarely so simple. Though the young widow’s passionate fling with dashing Bow Street Runner Callum Jenks ended amicably months ago, she now needs his expertise. It seems Isabel’s late husband, a respected art dealer, was peddling forgeries. If those misdeeds are revealed, the marriage prospects of his younger cousin— now Isabel’s ward—will be ruined. For the second time, Isabel has upended Callum’s well-ordered world. He’s resolved to help her secretly replace the forgeries with the real masterpieces, as a . . . friend. A proper sort of friend doesn’t burn with desire, of course, or steal kisses on twilight errands. Or draw a willing lady into one passionate encounter after another. Isabel’s scheme is testing Callum’s heart as well as his loyalties. But with pleasure so intoxicating, the real crime would be to resist . . .

TRULY GOOD READ!

This is a great story, both poignant, and uplifting. How a Marquess’s daughter, Lady Isabel goes from a marriage to a very cold man, to finding love with an Officer of The Police. I love the Bow Street Runner, Callum Jenks, still trying to solve the death of Lady Isabel’ s husband. He never truly believed everything was as it seemed. Lady Isabel finally realized that just confining her activities to the requisite house calls is not enough any longer, she wants to contribute in some small way to the world she was born into. I did not think that I would like Lady Isabel marrying outside the Aristocracy, with no money, however, as usual , Theresa Romaine makes it seem perfectly natural. I Highly Recommend! Thank you! Enjoy!

FOR A CHANCE TO WIN AN EBOOK OF THERESA ROMAIN’S BOOK SEND YOUR ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION TO CSBisig@comcast.net

Which do you prefer, that a man of the Aristocracy, and monearry beneath him, or a Lady of the Aristocracy, marrying a man who is not of the Aristocracy, and has no money? During this time period, do you believe that either would truly work?